On the way to Mercury Bay our bus driver took us to Mount Eden in Auckland where you can get 360 degree views of the city. It was a really clear day so the views were amazing. You could see for miles and Auckland suddenly looked bigger than we realised!

In New Zealand there is alot of driving between each destination so to break it all up the Kiwi bus takes you to some lovely spots so we can appreciate New Zealand for what it is.. On the way to Mercury Bay we were driven through the Kopu Ranges which were beautiful. Miles and miles of hills and mountains covered in lush green trees. We then stopped off at a place where there are many beaches to visit. Vicky and I chose to visit Stingray Bay. It took about 20 mins to walk to from the car park and when we got there it was our own little bit of paradise as it is a secluded beach. We saw a massive jellyfish that had been washed up onto the beach but no stingrays!! We were supossed to leave at 4:30 so we walked up to the bus but the driver decided we would leave at 5:30 instead and didnt tell half of us so we were hanging around for ages. The bus driver that we had was new and it was his first trip so we gave him the benifit of the doubt... this time.

We then continued onto Mercury Bay. We only spent one night there and then the next stop was Rotorua...